Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Northwestern stuns No. 20 Penn State
Penn State coach Patrick Chambers chose to focus on the positives this season — not the recent rough patch. And he’s banking on the Nittany Lions to put a loss to Northwestern behind them with the Big Ten Tournament coming up.
Miller Kopp scored 21 points, and the struggling Wildcats beat No. 20 Penn State 80-69 on Saturday.
Penn State (21-10, 11-9) hoped to head into the conference tournament on a winning note, only to stumble against one of the worst teams in the league and lose for the fifth time in six games. Even so, the Nittany Lions have their second 20win season in 11 years. And those 11 victories in Big Ten play are second only to the 12 posted by the 1995-96 team.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve done — 21 wins, 11 wins in this league,” Chambers said. “We had eight teams in the top 25. I am not going to diminish or steal the joy from my players and my staff. Am I disappointed how we’re finishing these games here? Yeah. However, the big picture, the macro — these kids have done something Penn State really hasn’t seen.”
Star Lamar Stevens, a Haverford School All-Delco, agreed. “I’m with coach,” he said. “We have a lot to be proud of. But, obviously, there’s still more work to be done.”
Northwestern (8-22, 3-17) beat a ranked team for the first time since knocking off No. 20 Michigan in 2018.
Stevens continued to close in on Penn State’s alltime scoring record, finishing with 18 points despite making just 5 of 20 shots. That gave him 2,207 in four seasons, six shy of the mark set by Talor Battle from 2007-11.
Myles Dread scored 14, nailing four 3s. Strath Haven All-Delco John Harrar had 12 points and 14 rebounds with Mike Watkins held out for violating team rules.
Kansas (28-3, 17-1) wrapped up its outright Big 12 regular-season title, beating Texas Tech (18-13, 9-9) behind Udoka Azubuike’s 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Emmitt Matthews scored a season-high 18 points and freshman Oscar Tshiebwe had 16 points and 12 rebounds as West Virginia (21-10, 9-9) used a big second-half run to deny Baylor (26-4, 15-3) the chance to earn a tie for the Big 12 regular-season championship.
Nick Richards scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Kentucky (25-6, 15-3 SEC) rallied from 18 points down to beat Florida (19-12, 11-7).
Kentucky played without point guard Ashton Hagans, who didn’t make the trip three days after arguing with coach John Calipari on the bench during a home loss to Tennessee.
Balsa Koprivica scored 15 points, and Florida State (26-5, 164) won its first ACC regularseason title, beating Boston College (13-18, 7-13).
Marcus Zegarowski made all five of his 3-pointers and finished with 23 points as Creighton (24-7, 13-5) earned a share of the Big East Conference regular-season title.
The Bluejays finished the game on a 21-6 run, with the sellout crowd of more than 18,000 at CHI Health Center growing louder as the clock wound down. Seton Hall (219, 13-5) lost its last two games and will be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
Vernon Carey Jr. had 25 points and 10 rebounds, while graduate reserve Justin Robinson offered a huge spark to help Duke (25-6, 15-5 ACC) beat rival North Carolina (13-18, 6-14).
Robinson — the son of retired NBA great David Robinson — matched career highs with 13 points and six rebounds to go with a career-best four blocks for the Blue Devils. They never trailed in this one but didn’t put away the Tar Heels until the final six minutes.
Kihei Clark scored 18 points, including a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left, and Virginia (23-7, 15-5 ACC) recovered to beat Louisville (24-7, 15-5) after blowing a 14-point, second-half lead.
Samir Doughty made 8 of 13 3-pointers and finished with 32 points as Auburn (25-6, 12-6 SEC)snapped a two-game skid, beating Tennessee (17-14, 9-9).
Nate Reuvers scored 17 points and Wisconsin (2110, 14-6) held Indiana (1912, 9-11) to just one basket over the final 10 minutes to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
Bonner-Prendergast AllDelco Isaiah Wong scored 18 points, including a key 3-pointer in overtime, and Miami (15-15, 7-13 ACC) made all six free throws in the extra period to beat Syracuse (17-14, 10-10).
Miami won without leading scorer Chris Lykes, who took an elbow to the nose in Wednesday’s loss to Virginia. He suffered facial injuries and likely will miss the ACC Tournament next week.
In Lykes’ absence, Wong helped run the offense. The freshman had four assists and nine rebounds.